


You're My Sunflower

by Pyxidis



Series: Dear Kats [2]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Gen, Genderfluid OC, What if Katsuki had a cousin from the NYC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-02-13 18:09:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21498316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyxidis/pseuds/Pyxidis
Summary: Or: How Akimoto Kameron becomes NYC's number one vigilante, Orchid Spider.Additionally: Akimoto Kameron knows their cousin, and there's no one that's more passionately defined than he is.
Series: Dear Kats [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549552
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	1. Prologue, Pt. 1

* * *

**Chapter Summary:** Kameron Abalahin was three years old when he found another family on the other side of the world.

* * *

_~waltz in the meadows~ _

Kamie was three when he found out he had a cousin.

He’d just gotten permission to use the computer for his game. It was a very interesting game; it had little multicolored birds that couldn’t fly, for some odd reason. He’d asked his maman about it once, who shrugged and said she hadn’t known why, only that they were made that way. It must be sad, he’d replied, when they looked up at the sky and saw other birds flying around. She’d answered that they could swim and dive; not a lot of birds could do that.

Not a lot of birds could cook, or dance, or throw parties either, he’d agreed. His maman shot _ him _ an odd look, and left the topic alone with a hesitant nod.

“Remember,” she’d said, before leaving for her job. Her white-blonde hair was in a neat little bun, dark pink eyes framed with black eyeliner as sharp as kitchen knives. Her black uniform was immaculately pressed, and she slipped on her lucky red heels as she shouldered her leather work bag. “Lana will be checking up on you in a few minutes. Don’t give her a hard time.” 

Ms. Lana was the landlady who owned the entire building. She was nice, and always gave him a cookie when nobody was looking.

Maman paused before opening the door. She held up her pointer finger. “One hour,” she said. “You can play your game for one hour, understand?” When Kamie nodded, her stern look softened. “Have fun, okay, sweetie?”

“Hai, maman.” 

She sucked in a breath, nodded, and opened the door. And with a little wave, she was gone.

Kamie turned back to his computer. _ One hour, _ he whispered under his breath. One hour to explore the island for any hidden pins, to play every minigame and converse with other kids with the cute little pictures and to get enough coins to get those colorful clothes and decorate his igloo- 

He paused. 

There was a tab that was blinking in the far right corner. All the other tabs - around twenty, maybe, he still wasn’t good at counting yet - didn’t flash or act out-of-sorts like this one was. His cursor hovered over the + icon, which he knew would open up another screen for his game. He really should get to that. He only had one hour.

He clicked on the blinking tab.

A site that he’d seen his maman look through a few times before popped up. There was an F and a B in big letters, and there were two Os, but he was still working on his reading. He resolved to work harder on that.

He clicked on the button with a bell on it, and a smaller screen appeared. He squinted. There were a lot of pictures - some of whole families, others with just one person. There were blue buttons right next to each picture. He was about to close it when his eyes caught sight of familiar blonde hair and slanted eyes. He clicked on the picture without hesitation.

And there was his maman.

Well, it wasn’t _ really _ his maman - his maman’s hair was long, and on special occasions was curled to perfection. This woman with his maman’s face had short, spiky hair. While his maman’s eyes were pink, this woman’s eyes were red. But they both had the same eye shape, the curve of the mouth sporting the same scary smirk, the pointed jaw jutting up defiantly. 

The woman had a baby in her arms.

For a moment his eyes were stuck on the white color of the hair, how it stuck up in all directions like a straw broom - but the edges were soft, like feathers. He wondered, if he touched it, it would feel soft; he wondered, if the baby’s eyes opened, whether they would be red like the woman’s or pink like his mother’s or - _ or maybe brown, like mine _, he thought giddily.

There was a feeling in his chest, like a flower unfurling, a warmth curling inside where his heart was - where it rested, now, the longer he looked at the sleeping figure in the woman’s arms, the woman with his mother’s face. He felt full to bursting. 

He loved this baby. He would do anything for them. He wanted the baby in his arms and he wanted - 

The door swung open. “Kamie-baby?”

He jerked back, hitting his head with a sharp _ thud _on the wooden back of his chair. Amongst the sudden pain he was able to watch Ms. Lana the landlady come in and raise an eyebrow at his rapidly blinking figure.

Ms. Lana was a fair-skinned lady who always wore a cloth that was soft to the touch covering her hair and neck. She always smelled like sweet bread and chocolate milk and seemed to always have time to watch him when his maman was at work. He would sometimes call her Lola Lana, though not as much as he used to; his maman would have a complicated expression on her face: angry, sad, then blank. He didn’t like that, so he stopped calling her that in front of his maman.

She put the plate she was holding down on a nearby desk and walked over to him. She ran her fingers through his black hair and rubbed the part of his scalp that he was absentmindedly guarding, putting his own hands down so she could massage the pain away herself. 

“Now I didn’t think I’d startle you so badly, and I’m sorry about that, baby,” she said. He took one of her hands and pressed her knuckles to his forehead, then let go and held up his arms. She lifted him up and kissed his cheek. 

“Hello to you too,” she said, smiling. “Feeling better?”

He nodded. She pointed at the plate. “I brought some cookies. You have any milk?”

He nodded again. She snorted.

“Hungry, hm?” she said. She didn’t wait for a response; she scooped up the plate and held Kamie close. “Let’s get you your snack.”

~

Kamie had thought about what he’d come across the entire time they’d eaten. Not even the chewiness of the cookie, the gooey chocolate center, and the cold splash of milk that followed after could take his mind away from the planes of the baby’s soft, fragile face. 

Lola Lana was a patient woman. Not once did she comment on Kamie’s silence. She talked about the neighbors who talked to each other through the flowers they brought to their windows, about the old grouchy man in the complex who once again herded the local stray cat into his room, even about the nice young teenager who helped her carry her groceries that morning. When he looked up at her, she’d smiled.

“You’re thinking a lot,” she’d said. Then: “Thinking is good. Go on.”

By the time they were done with snack time, he’d decided to do something about it. He took Lola Lana’s hand and led her to the computer. He sat her on the wooden chair and pointed at the screen. 

She had no doubt expected him to babble about the game with little penguins, possibly warned by his maman. She was certainly not prepared for her charge to ask her why the woman in the website had his mother’s face. 

She looked at the name, paled, took him to her lap, and gently told him that the woman was his maman’s sister. And they looked the same because they were in their mother’s womb at the same time, and born at the same time. Twins.

“Bakugou Mitsuki,” he murmured, echoing Lola Lana. Apparently, he had an aunt. For some reason, his maman never told him about her.

Apparently, he had a cousin.

He became quiet, looking down on the floor. Lola Lana waited. Finally, he lifted up his head and pointed with his chin at the screen again. “Who baby?”

Lola Lana shifted, drawing them both closer to the screen. Her arms were warm. “Bakugou Katsuki,” she said, softly. “Your little cousin. He was born a few weeks ago.”

Kamie placed a hand over the baby’s head. “Wanna see him,” he said.

“I’m afraid they’re very far away, baby.”

He frowned. She smoothed it away with a gentle hand on his brow. “But we can send them a message, if you’d like.”

He nodded. “Thank you Lola,” he said, smiling wide, his game evidently forgotten.

_ I’m sorry Mrs. Abalahin, _ she thought. _ Your son loves his cousin. _

~

It was tense for a few days after.

Maman wasn’t happy to find that there was a message sent to her sister on the site. She was ignoring her, he realized, and his face had scrunched up and he’d begged her not to be mad at Ms. Lana, she was just trying to help him. He wanted to see the baby, he said, but he couldn’t, so he asked for Ms. Lana to introduce him to the baby and send the message to the baby only, he promised.

He wanted to see the baby.

Maman’s face crumpled at the display of desperation and she scooped him up, shushing him, apologizing to him. She wasn’t upset at him, not really, she told him. She didn’t want to talk to her sister; they had a bad fight, she said. But of course the baby did nothing wrong. Of course, he just wanted to say hello to the baby, didn’t he? He wanted someone to look after?

There were a lot of questions, but Kamie nodded yes, yes, _ yes, _ as long as he could talk to the baby.

The next day he opened his door into just a tiny crack and spotted Ms. Lana patting his maman on her back, so he was satisfied that his pleas were heard and that she wasn’t mad at Ms. Lana. She didn’t do anything bad, after all.

But there was still a slight tenseness to his maman’s shoulders as she went about that day and the day after. She’d wave away his touches to her sleeves and concerned tugs to her waist with a smile that strained her entire face. She kept glancing at the computer, but would look quickly away and hurry past it.

He too glanced frequently at the computer. He wondered how long a baby would take to message him back.

Finally the tension broke approximately three days after he sent his first message. A choked-off sigh, and a hoarse voice called to him: “Kamie!”

He scrambled up from his crayons (and they were scattered all over the floor, ready to be stepped on, but if anyone else but him stepped on it it’d break and he’d cry) and darted into the room his maman’s voice came from; and there she was, in front of the open computer. There was a blinking over one of the little pictures, next to the bell. 

She smiled. Her shoulders were slumped and relaxed. “It’s your cousin.”

He climbed up to his maman’s lap and stared at the screen. She ducked her head and giggled; he was so easily charmed by the baby. There was a picture of him - her nephew, Katsuki - eyes and mouth open.

“Red,” Kamie said.

“Hm?”

“Eyes red,” he said, then stared some more. He spotted the words below it.

“What say?” he asked, looking up at his maman. She turned his face back to the picture.

“It says: _ Hello, cousin Kamie. I love you, too_.”

* * *

**Notes:**

Here it is, my little weird self-indulgent AU. I'll try not to interfere directly with canon TOO much, but it's kinda inevitable, isn't it.

Oh well.

* * *


	2. Prologue, Pt. 2

* * *

**Chapter Summary: **Kam and Kats build their friendship through greetings, then pictures, then long messages that tell each other that life is good.

* * *

_ ~evanescent~ _

Katsuki was three when he sent his first message. 

He’d just finished tracing his hiragana. It wasn’t so hard; but the more time he spent trying to get the lines right, the more he fidgeted and moved around, distracting him from making everything perfect. It was irritating, and frustrating, but he refused to cry over such a silly thing. Obviously, he had to try harder. In the end he’d finished his hiragana _ and _ English letters, neat and precise like his dad’s, _ and _ still had enough time to play before his mother irritated him again!

… well, alright, there were _ some _ hiragana and English letters which had outside marks, but handwriting was stupid anyway and he was ahead of every kid in the neighborhood. He was still the best.

So why did his mother have to yell so much?

“KATSUKI!” his mother shouted.

“COMING!” he screamed, putting down his All Might figure (carefully, on his bed) and running through the halls to his dad’s office. 

“Don’t ye- DON’T RUN, EITHER!” his mother snapped. Her hands were on her hips, mouth tilted down, upper lip curled up to show teeth.

He scowled. That wasn’t fair - the last time he walked when she called he’d been scolded for taking his time. But he couldn’t very well _ tell _ her that, could he. She had a tendency to yell over “stupid excuses” when he’d just wanted to explain himself. 

So he decided to do what he discovered recently had the least repercussions - he mirrored her posture, putting his hands on his own hips. “I’m HERE now,” he stressed.

His mother threw up her hands. “How’d you get to be such a brat, huh?”

_ How’d you not lose your voice, _ he thought back.

She dropped her hands, and he stilled. She had an unwelcome tendency to rub her hand through his hair really hard. She said it was supposed to be reassuring. He only felt reassured when she stopped kneading her knuckles on his head like dough. 

“Well,” she said, then stopped. Her expression then abruptly changed so swiftly that he had to rub his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things.

Her mouth was now in a straight line, and for once her eyes weren’t glaring intensely and anything and everything. They were drawn back, like the waves in a tide. Duller, somehow,

“It’s your cousin,” she said. A light in her eyes came back, but he couldn’t quite read what it was. He’d never seen her look at him like that before. “He’s online and wants to talk to you.” Her upper lip lifted up, this time in a frightening imitation of a smile. “Try not to be too much of a brat, got it?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, but dutifully climbed up to the leather rolling chair and squinted at the computer screen. After a few seconds he looked up at her, and she rolled her eyes and pointed at the first words of the message.

“It says: _ Hi, Katsuki! _”

“I know what THAT says,” he grumbled. It was true. His name was easy to recognize after writing out each English letter hundreds of times; and besides, Kamie started out each message the same.

His mother narrowed her eyes. “You better not act smart with me,” she said, “because from now on you’ll be reading this on your own.”

Katsuki froze. His mouth opened, a furious buzzing in his ears. “Wh - “

“Katsuki,” she snapped, and his jaws clicked shut, cutting off the building, screeching tantrum coming out of the base of his throat. “I’m not so stupid to think that you can read all that by yourself right now. But you _ will _, so you might as well get a head start. I’ll only help you if you really can’t get it.”

Katsuki opened his mouth to respond… then clenched his fists after what she’d said finally settled in his brain.

_ She didn’t think he could do it. _

It was all over her face. Her eyebrow was arched, mouth tilted up in a wry smirk. 

_ She doubted him. _

Katsuki glared at her and turned to the screen. “I can do it MYSELF,” he said insistently. His eyebrows furrowed as he directed one hundred percent of his focus toward the foreign English words. His teeth grinded together, his features twisted into a scowl.

And in the end, his mother didn’t need to intervene as much as he thought she would, though it took him longer than he’d wanted to read the whole message. He’d have to work on that. In the end, the message said:

_ Hi, Katsuki! _

_ How are you? I hope you’re doing good. I’m learning Japanese so we can talk more! How’s school? My teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I didn’t know. How about you? What do you want to be when you grow up? _

Katsuki started to type: _ Kamie. I want to be like All Might... _

_ ~freudian summer~ _

_ The Cousins _

_ 5:04 PM _

_ Kamie: I heard you got your quirk today! _

_ Katsuki: Who told you that? _

_ Kamie: Your mom. _

_ Katsuki: UGH. _

_ Kamie: So what is it? _

_ Katsuki: Firecrackers. Mom says my hands will go BOOM when I am bigger _

_ Kamie: Sounds scary! _

_ Katsuki: Not really _

_ Kamie: But good for beating bad guys up like All Might _

_ Katsuki: Yeah _

_ Katsuki: What is yours _

_ Kamie: I sing and people see colors _

_ Katsuki: oh _

_ Kamie: I like it! I like colors and art so it is good _

_ Katsuki: ok _

_ Kamie: How about your friend? Does he have a quirk yet _

_ Katsuki: I have lots of friends _

_ Kamie: Midori! _

_ Katsuki: It’s Deku and no _

_ Katsuki: Why are you asking about him _

_ Kamie: Sorry! You talk about him a lot _

_ Katsuki: he’s annoying _

_ Kamie: that’s mean _

_ Katsuki: whatever _

_ Kamie: He sounds nicer than your other friends _

_ Katsuki: so what _

_ Kamie: You should be nicer to him! _

_ Katsuki: he cries a lot. He needs to toughen up _

_ Katsuki: if we wanna be heroes we can’t cry all the time _

_ Kamie: i guess _ _  
_ _  
_ _ Kamie: Oh I gotta go. Talk to you tomorrow _ _  
_ _  
_ _ Katsuki: ok _

_ Kamie: Oh, before I forget _

_ Kamie set Katsuki’s nickname to Kats _

_ Kamie: Bye! _

_ Kats: HAY WAT STAPCOMBAK STUPID _

_ ~Possibilities~ _

Kamie spent more time at home as the year went by. Though he lived in the "better" part of Queens - closer to where the upper middle class made their homes and attended to their higher-paying careers - he was still close enough to the places which were prohibited due to "bad influences" and the "unseemly" lurking around. 

His maman had heard of gang fights and muggings and instructed him to not go through the shortcuts. He told her yes and did so. Sometimes he wondered how the other kids in school, who emerged from and disappeared into the alley shortcuts, were able to avoid the danger.

But he would stop that line of thinking and look away from the determined (other times frightened) faces and walk back home.

He had playmates, but while other kids would sometimes walk together, he walked home alone. His maman wasn't comfortable with him hanging out or sleeping over at other people's houses. Once, he was particularly insistent on wanting to go to a classmate's sleepover birthday party. She'd stilled, fingers frozen over the keyboard, and told him no, voice muted. When he'd pleaded for her to reconsider she'd turned quickly to look right at him, a strain in her smile, a wild look in her eyes.

He'd never asked again.

Going straight home from school would sometimes lead him to knocking on Lola Lana's door, bored and energized and wanting to play. Lola Lana would feed him his usual snack of cookies and milk and play with him for a little while - hide and go seek, tag, even heroes and cops and villains - before shooing him back to his apartment floor and telling him to take a nap and do his homework before his maman came home. While she cooked dinner, he'd talk to Kats and tease him about his nickname. And then, if his maman wasn't too tired after work, he'd ask her about his homework and she would correct him. Sometimes they'd even watch a movie together before going to bed.

But every time his father would come home, things changed.

At those times when he went out for breakfast, his maman would move jerkily over the pots and pans, as if she'd forgotten whether she was cooking with them or cleaning them. His father - a dark skinned man with close-shaved black hair and piercing black eyes - would look over at him once before glancing idly over his magazine, upside down. 

He'd eat, stomach churning, a thick heady atmosphere surrounding the two adults in the room, almost smothering the child trying desperately to breathe as quietly as possible. And when he was done he'd head out the door with his backpack and lunch, leaving behind a quiet house filled with things not meant for a child's ears.

He'd dread going home. He'd pick the longest route back, dragging his feet over the concrete, and he'd knock on Lola Lana's door less and less. He didn't want to bring winter on her spring home, didn't want to ruin the smell of cookies and her smile on his rainy disposition. So once he came home he would shut his door, lock it, and take more time on his homework. He'd shoot a brief message to Kats, and that was when he'd miss his cousin the most.

(He'd even go to bed early, hands and pillows over his ears, so the screaming whispers and hoarse shouts would just _ stop_.)

After two weeks his father left again, and he let out a silent sigh of relief. He wouldn't be back for another three months.

_ ~TheNightLife~ _

_ THE COOL KIDS _

_ 6:12 PM _

_ Kamie: I am eight years old _

_ Kats: I know _

_ Kamie: and I have done a Crime _

_ Kats: WHAT _

_ Kamie: i mean not really but mom would be mad _

_ Kats: Did you kill anyone _

_ Kamie: NO? _

_ Kats: you are ok then _

_ Kamie: um _

_ Kamie: ANYWAY _

_ Kamie: There were some kids from a higher grade who were painting on the walls of the alley beside our apartment _

_ Kamie: and I went over and asked if I could do it too _

_ Kamie: and they said yes and we made a pretty picture of Queens at night with all the lights _

_ Kamie: IMG_queens.jpg _

_ Kats: Oh _

_ Kats: it’s _

_ Kats: nice _

_ Kamie: Thank you! How about you? _

_ Kats: IMG_BOOM.jpg _ _  
_ _  
_ _ Kamie: Oh wow, looks big! _

_ Kats: It was _

_ Kamie: Are your hands ok? _

_ Kats: Yeah why would it not it’s fine _

_ Kats: I am strong _

_ Kamie: ok _

_ ~ _

_ 7:30 AM _

_ Kamie: IMG_boompaint.jpg _

_ Kats: Oh _

_ ~ _

_ 5:09 PM _

_ Kats: Thanks _

_ Kamie: :) _

_ Kats: Now tell me how to change my nickname _

_ Kamie: no _

_ Kats: D:< _

* * *

**Notes:**

So I finished undergrad, took a two week break…. got unprecedented real life obligations that set me back for two more weeks… and now I'm _ back_. Hopefully I post semi-regularly. I won't be giving up on this story anytime soon - I have too many notes to justify that, heh.

Also, I edited the first chapter! So it’s much longer and sets up the story better. At least I hope it does.

AND A SHOUT OUT TO MY BETA READER, LES! Yes, I have a beta reader now, which explains the jump in quality.

* * *


End file.
